Video draw poker has been played in gaming establishments for many years. In conventional video draw poker, a single player does not play against a dealer or other players, but rather attempts to achieve a highest possible poker hand ranking. After a player makes an initial wager and is dealt five face-up cards from a standard 52-card deck, the player is allowed to discard and replace unwanted cards with replacement cards from the deck, resulting in a final card hand. The game then determines a poker hand ranking of the final card hand and provides an award based on a pay table. The pay table includes a list of winning poker hand rankings and the award for each ranking. The winning poker hand rankings for a standard Jacks or Better video poker game include in order from highest to lowest: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair and a Pair of Jacks or Better. Any poker hand having a ranking less than a Pair of Jacks or Better is a losing hand.
Variations to conventional video draw poker have been developed. Some variations add one or more wild Jokers to the standard 52-card deck or consider certain cards (e.g., deuces, sevens, etc.) in the standard 52-card deck to be wild. Other variations modify the pay table to award premiums for certain poker hand rankings. These variations, however, still use the standard video draw poker methodology of dealing five cards, discarding the unwanted cards, and drawing replacement cards to replace the discarded cards. As casino patrons become bored with these nominal variations of conventional video draw poker, gaming establishments are continually looking for new video poker games that will attract frequent play and hence increase profitability to the gaming establishment.